Amadou's Second Chance

Last year, Amadou Hamadoun Diallo’s right leg and hand were torn apart in a grenade explosion that also killed two of his friends in Toya, Mali. The grenade, along with other explosives, had been left behind by fighters fleeing Timbuktu during the country's crisis.

Both Amadou’s leg and hand had to be amputated. “When I left the hospital, I was ashamed to leave the house,” says Amadou, who used a pair of wooden crutches to hobble around after his operation. “I felt pretty numb and I didn’t want to do anything. I wanted to be by myself.”

However, in June 2013, Handicap International changed that. Staff fit Amadou with a prosthetic leg and arm. “I no longer sit in my room all day,” says Amadou. “I can walk with my prosthesis, and I go to school, the market, and wherever I want in my village.”

Amadou’s prostheses have also brought peace of mind to his parents. “For me this accident was a real tragedy because I thought that my child would never walk again and that even with his crutches he wouldn’t be able to work and earn enough to feed himself,” says Hamadoun Sidi Diallo, Amadou’s father. “But now that he has the prostheses, he’s self-reliant and does everything by himself. He’s even learning how to write with his left hand. He’s got a second chance in life.”